Art of making starch



(No Model.)

J. H. C. VAN DEINSE & M. J. REISEGER.

ART-015' MAKING STARGH.

- Patented Jan. 6, 1891.

WITNESSES THE NO'ERIS rn'ms :0. wow UTHO V/A mu:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

JOHN H. OlVAN DEINSE AND MARC J. REISEGER, OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN.

ART OF MAKING STARCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,127, dated January6, 1891.

Application filed December 3, 1889. Serial No. 332 ,385. (No model.)

Toall whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN H. O. VAN DEINsE and MARC J. REISEGER,residents of Muskegon, in the county of Muskegon and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of MakingStarch; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The object of the invention is the economi cal production of a purepotato-starch; and it consists in the process and apparatus hereinafterdescribed and pointed out.

In the manufacture of potato-starch as heretofore practiced the methodand apparatus employed have failed to separate and recover the starchcompletely, and they have also failed to certainly and thoroughlycleanse the same and preserve its purity and whiteness. According to themost common method, cleansed potatoes are reduced to pulp by graters.The pulp is then conducted onto wire screens, which are simultaneouslyshaken endwise. The starch thus separated from the pulp is mixed withwater and allowed to stand in suitable tanks until it has separated andsettled to the bottom, mixed, however, with other portions of thepotato. The water being drawn off, the residue is again mixed with Waterand settled, and the water again drawn oflt, whereby the starch ispartially purified. It is then dried in kilns, where it is more or lessdiscolored. By this mode of procedure from about six to eight poundsonly of starch, and often of an inferior quality, have been obtained perbushel of potatoes, though a bushel contains from sixteen to twenty-fourper cent. of pure starch, or from nine and six-tenths to fourteen andfour-tenths pounds.

The accompanying drawing illustrates an apparatus for carrying out ourimproved methods.

A indicates a mill suitable for grinding grated potato-pulp, in which ab indicate the stones.

0 indicates a cross-beam resting upon timbers d. Upon this beam issituated a socket in which the shaft 6 is stepped in such manner as tobe freely revolved therein. The stone b is supported by any suitablefoundation f f, and the stone at by the shaft e through the medium ofthe spider g, situated in the eye or opening it through said stone.

2' indicates a device for raising and lowering the timber d and stoneto. An outletfrom the annular space inclosed by the band is indicated atZ.

B denotes the sieving apparatus and m its frame, at one end of which aretwo journalboxes at n for the shaft 0, to which is secured the Wheel 19,having three projections, as indicated.

q denotes the sieve-frame having an imperforate bottom except at 0",which denotes the sieve proper. The frame q may incline slightly towardits open end 5, where it is supported on a cross-beam t of the frame.

u'u, denote cross-bars of the sieve-frame, one on each side of thesupport t.

'0 to denote springs secured to the sieveframe and to thesupporting-frame.

x denotes a plate or piece secured to the bottom of the sieve-frame toreceive the impact of the projections of wheel p, when the latter isrevolved, by which the upper end of the sieve-frame is alternatelyraised against the tension of the spring to and lowered under the actionof the same spring as a projection is carried off and away from plateto. The spring v, in co-operation with support t and bars 16 it,prevents the sieve from being carried too far in a horizontal direction.The combined effect of these devices is to effectually tumble thecontents of the sieve, by which the ground material has its particlesthoroughly separated and the coarser parts of the refuse are carried offat the discharge end of the sieve or left thereon to be subsequentlyremoved. The starch with the remaining portions of the refuse passesinto a receptacle 6, placed below the sieve, from which it is conveyedin any convenient manner to a settling-tank.

C denotes settling apparatus.

y is a frame supporting the receptacle divided into basins by thepartitions z. A V= shaped trough for conducting starch and water tothese basins is indicated by a. Out-= lets from thetrough are provided,one or more for each basin, suitably closed, when desired, by doors orslides 11. A similarlyshaped trough for permitting an escape of waterfrom these basins is indicated at 0; Outlets from these basins formed bypartitions .2 are indicated at d. e denotes atrough for draining off thesurface water from the basins after the starch has settled. Itcommunicates with said basins by passages that can be closed by thematched and grooved piecesff, of which there are several in each passageor outlet. In practice these are removed one by one and gradually toeffect the removal of the water without disturbing the settled starch.

i indicates a pipe for emptying trough c.

The dotted lines 1 indicate a pipe, through which the sifted pulp may bepumped from the receptacle 6 after it has received the same from thesieve, which material may be diluted with water through asuitableinlet-pipe communicating with said receptacle. Dotted lines 2 indicate apipe by which starch adhering to the settling-tank G and subsequentlyremoved by washing can be conveyed back to receptacle 6. The fineimpurities having been decanted or floated from the upper part of tank 0the residue is conveyed in any suitable manner, as by a pipe 3 5, to thestirring-receptacle.

I) indicates a stirring apparatus of any approved construction, whereinthe starch freed from the lighter impurities is thoroughly mixed with afresh charge of water and the portions of the impurities that remaineither because their gravity prevented removal in the preceding step, orbecause they were entangled with the starch, are now freed from thestarch and thoroughly separated preparatory to the next step, wherebythey are gradually washed from the starch.

E denotes slides or inclined planes, preferably about forty feet long,for the final purification of the starch. It is conducted to these bythe troughs 9', provided with pipes or tubes 7i, two or more to eachslide by preference.

t" i denote partitions which separate the several slides, and 7.1 thelower or delivery end of the same.

F denotes a centrifugal drying apparatus.

Z indicates a vertical shaft suitably stepped in a socket or seatm,resting 011 a proper foundation. Upon this shaft is secured a disk orhead a, which may have a collar or tubular axis resting upon a band orother support 0', rigidly secured to the shaft, the collar being madefast upon the same by set-screws t.

g denotes a skeleton head secured to the shaft and parallel to disk 72'.Upon these heads or disks n. g is secured, preferably, fibrousinateriahsuch as cheese-cloth or muslin. The lower disk is provided withan outlet u, having a sliding cover and communieating with adelivery-spout 10'.

According to our process cleansed potatoes grated by any approvedapparatus are introduced into a mill, such as described, and

ground preparatory to the separation of starch therefrom. The thoroughly-comminuted pulp is run from the mill mixed with water and passed intothe sieves, which tumble the pulp and thoroughly toss it upon thereticulated surface of the sieve, whereby a complete separation of thestarch from the woody fiber and cellular matter is effected. This, incombination with the above-described grinding, removes the main part ofthe waste matter and facilitates the subsequent cleansing operation.After the sieving operation the starch is settled in the basins, and thewater carrying fine impurities is decanted by means of the removablegates, which are successively removed to leave a-graduallyloweredfluid-exit. The water used for cleansing the settling-basins afterremoval of their contents contains some starch and is conducted to tanksunderneath the sieves. The starch thus partially cleansed is nextthoroughly stirred with water, for the purpose of separating andremoving those heavier impurities which were not floated oil by thepreceding step. These heavier particles having been removed, by drawingoff the superincumbent water other water is added, and the fl aid, withstarch and fine impurities held in suspension, is next conducted uponslides or long planes slightly inclined, and is allowed to drop slowlythereon or drop by drop. The starch by its specific gravity settles downgradually, while the water, carrying therewith the fine particles of thecellular matter and other impurities contained and entangled (up to thisstage of the process) in the starch, flows ed? at the lower ends of theslides. All the impurities having been removed by the drawing-offprocess last above described, the purified starch is introduced into thecentrifugal drying-drum, having, )referably, a fibrous peripher as setforth, by which the remain-' der of water is quickly thrown out throughthe interstices of the fabric, leaving the starch pure, snow-white, andin larger quantity than heretofore obtained.

In the above-described operations pure water will of course be used, andthe most approved methods of transferring the waterand pulp employed.Preferably the various receptacles will be so disposed as to permitdrawing the contents from one to another in proper order to avoidunnecessary pumping, and ordinarily V-shaped gutters will be used.

It will be understood that the distinct devices, mills, sieves,settling-basins, slides, and other parts will be used in such numbersand relative arrangements, and with such intermediate tanks, conduits,pumps, and thelike as may be adapted or preferred by those skilled inthe art. It should also be noted that our process may be applied to avariety of farinaceous tubers or vegetables.

\Ve are aware that it is not new to grind corn for the production ofstarch, and that the sieves, settling and stirring tanks, and other likedevices have been used.

ITS

It has heretofore been proposed to finely grind residues containing thewaste matter of the potato intermingled with portions of starch, and wedo not broadly claim fine grinding in processes of starch-making. Suchformer mode of procedure involved a repetition of the starch-separatingmethods, and the product of the fine grinding was inferior, because ofthe perdominance of waste matter, from which the starch could not bethoroughly separated. By our method the entire substance of the tuber isfinely ground at the beginning of the process, whereby the cellularstructure of the potato is broken down and the entire separation of alarge product of starch of superior quality is made practicable withoutspecial repetition of the washings.

It is characteristic of our improvement that potato-pulp is finelyground by means adapted to thoroughly break up its cellular structure.The importance of this has not heretofore been perceived, nor has anyefficient means been used for accomplishing this and saving the largeportion of starch usually lost with the woody and. cellular fiber thatis left on the seive, and thrown away as refuse.

It is further characteristic of our improvement that we subject thethoroughly-ground potato-pulp to a jolting or tossing action on sieves,which at an early stage separate all the starch of the potato-pulp fromthe coarser parts of the refuse. The steps of thorough stirring,washing, and decanting, and the draining on long narrow slides orinclines, carried out substantially as set forth, in combination withthe preceding operations and the subsequent rapid drying without the useof heated air or similar means, all co-operate to produce anexceptionally fine white starch in relatively large quantity.

Having thus described our invention, what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is- 1. The improvement in the art of making starch, whichconsists in finely grinding farinaceous tubers or vegetables, joltingthe finely-ground pulp upon sieves to separate the starch, Washing andsettling the starch, and removing the dirty water by gradualdecantation, stirring the settled starch with an addition of freshwater, and removing the remnant of fine impurities by droppingthem andthe starch in a state of suspension slowly upon inclined slides orplanes, and finally expelling the remainder of water from the purifiedstarch by centrifugal action, substantially as set forth.

2. The improvement in the art of making starch, which consists in finelygrinding the entire substance of the tubers and separating the wholeproduct of starch from the ground pulp by sieving and washing and thendrying the purified product, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN H. C. VAN DEINSE. MARC J. REISEGER.

Witnesses:

JOHN R. GHENT, A. W. GUTHAT.

